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Thomas Kilroy – Imprint: Writer in Profile

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Irish playwright Thomas Kilroy was born in Limerick and through a career spanning fifty years, he has resisted fixed categories and boundaries in both his stagecraft and themes of his plays. This episode begins with a discussion about what interviewer Theo Dorgan refers to as a ‘double life’ – Kilroy’s role as a playwright and […]

Gore Vidal – Imprint: Writer in Profile

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This episode of Writers in Profile features the novelist, playwright, screenwriter and essayist, Gore Vidal. We gain a glimpse of Vidal’s early childhood, the controversy around his novel The City and the Pillar, and his experience writing scripts for films such as Ben Hur (1959). A desire to dissect the roots of American society has […]

Eavan Boland – Imprint: Writer in Profile

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Irish poet Eavan Boland was born in Dublin, Ireland, but moved to London at the age of six. where she had her first experience of anti-Irish sentiment. She returned to Ireland to study at Trinity College, Dublin, and was also educated in New York. In this episode, Dorgan and Boland delve into her self-consciousness about […]

Bernard MacLaverty – Imprint: Writer in Profile

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Novelist Bernard MacLaverty recalls his beginnings as a Medical Lab Technician and compares writing to ‘a science of feelings’. This interview explores topics around his early poetry, moving to Scotland after the Ulster Worker’s Strike and  being inspired by Brian Moore and the short stories of Michael MacLaverty. He explores the political underpinning of his […]

Doris Lessing – Imprint: Writer in Profile

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Doris Lessing was a British-Zimbabwean novelist who spent her childhood in South Africa in the 1920s. In this programme she talks about writing radically on social issues, how children with traumatic childhoods become good writers, and on publishing her first writing at seven years old. She expresses the importance of having a thick skin as […]

Hugh Leonard – Imprint: Writer in Profile

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Hugh Leonard was a prolific Irish dramatist, television writer and essayist. In this episode, Leonard takes us through his childhood in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, writing his early plays and his influences from Lennox Robinson and Sean O’Casey, to ‘the greatest’ Samuel Beckett. He offers an in-depth look at his creative process, how ideas arise and […]

Nuala Ní Dhomnaill – Imprint: Writer in Profile

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In this Writer in Profile interview, Irish-language poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill discusses her early childhood in England where she grew up speaking both English and Irish. At the age of five, she went to live with her aunt in Co Kerry and was spurred to write Irish-language poetry after her first visit to the Gaeltacht. […]

Brendan Kennelly – Imprint: Writer in Profile

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Irish poet and novelist Brendan Kennelly is a prolific author of over 20 poetry collections as well as plays, novels and criticism. In this episode, his work including My Dark Fathers and four plays – Antigone, Medea, The Trojan Women and Blood Wedding is explored. Theo Dorgan and Kennelly then delve into the role of […]

Fighting Back – A Good Age: Episode 6

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The last episode of A Good Age explores the media representation of senior citizens and of the ageing process. Mary Robinson outlines her support for the Senior Citizen’s Parliament and Proinsias De Rossa discusses the enormous contribution senior citizens can make to society. Several others explore the effects of consumerism on senior citizens and the […]

Jennifer Johnston – Imprint: Writer in Profile

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Irish novelist Jennifer Johnston was born in Dublin, the daughter of actor and director Shelah Richards and writer Denis Johnston. In this episode, she explains how she avoided their influence by delaying the start of her writing career  until  her thirties. Johnston then explores themes in her writing, discusses how her first play and novel […]

John Henry Foley: Sculptor of the Empire

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John Henry Foley was one of the most influential sculptors in Irish history. The Dubliner’s breath-taking equestrian masterpieces strode across city squares and parklands from Dublin, to Kolkata and Virginia. Foley’s best-known Irish works include the Daniel O’Connell monument on O’Connell Street and the Henry Grattan statue on College Green, as well as the figures […]

Essie’s Last Stand

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It’s Dublin, 1999, and 76 year old Essie Keeling, Georgie her dog and her neighbour Karl Byrne are fighting eviction by property developers and homelessness. This timely, inspiring story of determination and resistance offers a crucial lens through which to view Dublin’s current housing crisis. Despite her age and ill health, the lovable Essie is […]